Ubisoft is on a secret mission to assassinate their customers' wallets with used game fees. (Source: Ubisoft)

And retailer Gamestop is perfectly fine with it; they say they don't care if customers are charged more

One
hot current debate in the video game industry is the topic of used
games. While this may seem surprising as used game sales --
both private and commercial – have been around for years, video
game makers are now turning on the time honored practice, looking to
make some extra money. Some developers have said used games
are worse
than piracy.

Electronic Arts unveiled a controversial plan
earlier this month to lock players out of online content in used
games unless they paid
a $10 fee. Now Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez CEO comments,
"Regarding ... monetizing used games or downloadable content …
most of the games that we will release next year will have
downloadable content available from the start. We are looking
very carefully at what is being done by EA regarding what we call the
'$10 solution,' and we will probably follow that line at sometime in
the future."

With Ubisoft, publisher of the
best-selling Assasin's
Creed and Splinter
Cell franchises
on board, many think the industry could shift as a whole to charging
users anywhere from $5-$20 extra on used titles, on top of the
$10-$40 they already pay for the game itself. Publishers are
also looking to use a transition to digital downloads to make
customers less able to sell titles in the first place.

Some
customers are circumventing these restrictions by creating one time
accounts on services such as Valve's Steam and selling them to
effectively sell the game. This technique is less effective on
consoles like the Xbox 360, though, where month billing is attached
to your account.

GameStop's Paul Raines praised EA
and Ubisoft's decision to charge customers more. He states, "We
support the creation of added downloadable content for popular
franchises, as we see that as extending the life of titles and
broadening the base of game players. We do not anticipate an
impact to our used margins due to this program. The amount of used
game buyers currently playing online is low, and as it grows, our
proprietary models will manage trade and sale pricing to reach margin
goals."

He adds, "Lastly, we believe that the online
pass process will allow publishers to better leverage their IP
content through DLC sales to both used players and new game
buyers."

GameStop owns IP related to an online billing
and content delivery system for used titles. The company
posted record
sales in the first quarter of 2010.

While game
companies have vowed to utilize the new used game markups to provide
"extra content" to the customer, they have provided no hint
to what that content might be or if it even exists at all.

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